Options for Safe and Cost-Effective Cat Travel

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Name: Cherie

From: Murrieta, CA

To: San Rafael, CA

Pet: Cali (cat, calico, 7 years old, probably 6 or 7 lbs.)

Dear PetRelocation,

What would be the approximate price for a cat her size to travel from Murrieta, CA to San Rafael, CA? I am going to be out of town for about a month and my daughter is in college up there. I am moving when I get back and I don't want her to be with strangers in a boarding kennel.

She's very sweet and lovable. She has to be right next to me all the time. She loves my daughter, too, and I don't think she'd do well being kenneled.

Thanks,

Cherie

Hi Cherie,

Thanks for the question! It looks like you're wanting to move your cat a distance of about 470 miles. The two options we see are to transport her by car or to fly from San Diego to San Francisco and arrange transportation to and from the airport on either end.

Either way you end up choosing, we recommend helping Cali to become as acclimated to her crate as possible so that she won't feel overly anxious during the trip. Here are a few tips for crate training a cat. If you decide to drive her and can't do it yourself, we suggest using IPATA.org to possibly find a local agent who is available for pet ground transportation.

Alternatively, you can look into booking a flight and having Cali fly with you (or a friend) in the cabin or unaccompanied in the cargo area (this second option can be done with the help of a professional pet travel service, as well). Based on the geography, it looks like a fair amount of car travel will still be involved with this pet relocation, so you'll either need to devote time to this endeavor or money towards hiring someone else to assist. Note that cats need to have a vet health certificate when flying in order to assure the airline they are healthy and fit to fly. Find out more about domestic pet travel here.

Making the drive yourself would probably be the least expensive option, but we understand that it's not always possible to easily handle something like that. If you'd like to learn more about our door-to-door pet travel services, please fill out our consultation form. We'd need a few more details to arrive at an accurate price estimate, but generally speaking our costs to move a small pet domestically begin at around $1200.

Hopefully this gives you an idea of where to begin, Cherie. Please let us know if we can be of further assistance!